Boris Johnson attempted to resist pleas for a second lockdown last autumn, joking that the Covid pandemic was only killing pensioners, his former aide Dominic Cummings claimed last night.
In a fresh assault on his ex-boss, Mr Cummings alleged that the Prime Minister said he 'didn't buy' evidence from scientists and other experts that the NHS was in danger of being overwhelmed.
The former advisor, who was sacked at the end of last year, shared WhatsApp messages with the BBC as he alleged the Prime Minister was reluctant to heighten restrictions because 'the people who are dying are essentially all over 80' and therefore expendable.
In his first broadcast interview, with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, the hostile former chief adviser to Mr Johnson accused his one-time boss of putting 'his own political interests ahead of people's lives'.
He also revealed that the Prime Minister also wanted to carry on meeting the Queen in person while Downing Street was rife with Covid, eventually backing down when it was pointed out he could kill her.
Mr Cummings has repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of being too slow in imposing the second lockdown, which came into force on November 5.
The political adviser, who left Downing Street during a bitter row in November, shared a series of messages from October 15 that appear to be from Mr Johnson to aides.
'I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on covid fatalities. The median age is 82 - 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get COVID and live longer. Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent ) and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this nhs overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate,' they read.
'There are max 3m in this country aged over 80. It shows we don't go for nation wide lockdown.'
Boris Johnson wanted to meet the Queen at the start of the pandemic despite signs Covid was spreading in Downing Street, it was claimed last night (pictured: Dominic Cummings in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg)
In a fresh assault on his ex-boss, Dominic Cummings said he had to persuade the PM (pictured right) not to have his weekly audience with the monarch in case he gave her the fatal virus
In his first TV interview since leaving No 10, Mr Cummings claimed the PM 'put his own political interests ahead of people's lives for sure'.
He said Mr Johnson's attitude last autumn was a 'weird mix' of 'partly 'it's all nonsense and lockdowns don't work anyway' and partly 'well this is terrible but the people who are dying are essentially all over 80 and we can't kill the economy just because of people dying over 80'.'
He added: 'Lots of people heard the Prime Minister say that, the Prime Minister texted that to me and other people.'
However Tory MPs rallied behind Mr Johnson. Peter Bone has dismissed Mr Cummings's allegations, saying the former aide was
